Magi

   A group or caste of religious experts in ancient Mesopotamia during the first millennium b.c. and perhaps later. According to Herodotus and other ancient Greek writers, the Magi (or Magians) originated under the Medes and were active in Zoro-astrian worship during the years of the Persian Empire. The Greek geographer Strabo mentions Magi during the later Parthian period, and they existed in the Sassanian period, too. It appears that a Magus was not an ordinary priest but rather a special kind of priest who had expertise in interpreting omens and dreams and performing sacrifices involving fire. Herodotus writes about another peculiar Magian custom:

   There is a Persian practice concerning the burial of the dead, which is not spoken of openly and is something of a mystery. It is that a male Persian is never buried until the body has been tornbyabirdoradog.Iknowfor certain that the Magians have this custom, for they are quite open about it. . . . [They] not only kill anything, except dogs and men, with their own hands but make a special point in doing so; ants, snakes, animals, birds - no matter what, they kill them indiscriminately. (Histories 1.140)

   Today the Magi are remembered best in the traditional christmas tale in which three of them, sometimes called wise men or kings, travel from Mesopotamia and visit the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

   See also: Herodotus; Persian Empire; Zoroastrianism